Tag Archives: Film Review

In From The Night Review

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It’s time for another really dramatic Hallmark title and I’m afraid to say that this one is going a bit too far into the dramatic territory. They make the kid a little too unlikable for most of the film and there isn’t much room for resolutions when even with 20 minutes left in the film we’re still dealing with issues. It takes too long to arrive at the happy ending which is a problem that drama films tend to have at some points. It needed to lighten up a bit.

The movie starts by introducing us to Vicky who has been working on a book for 10 years but has serious writer’s block. She has finally been invited to a really prestigious author’s retreat though where she will be paired with an experienced mentor. The only thing she wasn’t counting on was her nephew Bobby showing up unannounced. He seems to have had a tough time of things as he can barely speak and suffers from large nightmares. Vicky needs to find a way to help him but this could end up destroying her career. What can she do?

The film definitely lays out how it can be difficult to navigate the family circumstances here. For starters, Bobby’s parents were insane from the jump and were never fit to be parents. At one point it got so bad that the rest of the family had to show up and take Bobby out of there but eventually they returned and took him back. Many years passed and the damage was done but the parents can still come back at any time. Vicky knows good and well that the parents will have the edge in any custody case so she has to be careful not to provide Bobby with any false hope while trying to keep him safe.

The time factor is also difficult as Bobby is nearly at college age so when you’re dealing with years of abuse, it’s not like you can fix it in an instant. Vicky does her best though and from the start I would say she handles it well. She quickly consults with a lawyer to deal with the legal stuff and on the family level she also makes sure to work on the resources that she has on hand with helping him feel comfortable at her place. When getting him to other nice relatives doesn’t work, she is quick to take him back to her home.

So I have no issues with Vicky. She’s a great lead character. The romance plot perhaps moves a little too quickly with the other author but the film doesn’t dwell on that much at least. Then we have Bobby where unfortunately most of my issues go. Obviously he’s been through a whole lot of abuse so it’s expected that he will be a bit off. He doesn’t have many social cues and makes his share of mistakes in terms of not knowing what to do. That is all fine, but where my issues come in is where he makes a bunch of friends with the wrong crowd. It just didn’t add up to me that he let a bunch of randoms crash at his place. You’d think that would just make him feel even more uncomfortable.

Then he lets them trash the place and also plays loud rock music at times. It’s lucky that there were no close neighbors to cause a problem. It felt like this just didn’t have an obvious correlation with what he endured as a kid so I didn’t know why he was acting out like this. I would have expected him to be really quiet or something which would make sense but standing out in all of these ways just felt weird. It takes him a long while to finally get back into control. So long that we’re at the end of the film by then.

That leads to another issue which is that the film doesn’t have much time for happy scenes. The movie is basically over by this point and so the film definitely lived up to the drama subplot but there isn’t a whole lot else. As a result, the film just isn’t a whole lot of fun to watch and certainly has no replay value. I would have cut out the plot with all the random toxic friends and probably would have removed the rock music as well. Have him be really quiet until Vicky is able to break through to him.

That just seems like it would make the most sense. I also think the subplot with his parents could have been handled better. Vicky’s mother continues to believe that they aren’t that bad and that Vicky should talk to them while Vicky wants nothing to do with them. Vicky has the correct position, especially after we see what they did with Bobby. The film awards too much sympathy to the father where he is broken down by the end and wants Vicky to talk to his wife. There is just no way that should ever happen and I also don’t give the father any slack here. He could have stopped the abuse at any point if he wanted to and yet he did nothing. He’s really just as guilty here.

I would have preferred if Vicky had just told him to get lose and reaffirmed that she would never see the wife again. Both of them just seem absolutely crazy and are well past the point of no return. Yeah they’ve got serious issues but they’re adults and could have taken steps to correct this. The instant they went after their son and gave him such a rough upbringing, the idea of any sympathy towards them was completely gone.

Overall, In from the Night is a film about how tough it can be to rebuild a life once it has been thoroughly broken down. It’s a film that is tackling a rather tough subject. I wouldn’t say it tackles the subject super well though and definitely stumbles to the finish line. There are a lot of things I would change with this film but ultimately the best thing to do is probably to skip it. This one isn’t going to hold a candle to the average Hallmark film. Those tend to be a lot more fun and have the right balance that this one lacks. This one is just too dreary for most of its run.

Overall 3/10

Congo Review

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Congo is a film that really didn’t impress me. For starters this film doesn’t actually deal with the killer gorillas for a very long time. This is really more of a classic adventure film. A lot of time it spent showing just how frantic things can get over in the Congo and the heroes have to constantly keep alert because things can go sideways at any point. So that’s an interesting approach to be sure but you need the characters to be really likable for that and these weren’t.

The movie starts with a group managing to finally find the location that should have tons of rare diamonds and minerals within the Congo. The corporate overlord is going to be super rich now and so he is really excited but then they are all viciously destroyed by some kind of creature over there. The CEO can’t have that and so he sends Karen over there to go and finish the job before the government hears about this and closes the borders. Her best option is to hitch a ride with the talking gorilla Amy as well as his trainer Peter. Peter’s not thrilled about having her around but is basically forced into it since he doesn’t have enough money for the trip. The heroes all begin their journey but quickly find that this will be a very dangerous adventure. Can they survive?

Technically speaking I’m fine with the film being a bit of a bait and switch with this not actually involving the evil gorillas for a long while. That means less animal violence and all but it almost feels like the film can be a bit aimless at times. Yes Karen wants to get over to the site where the people died but Peter doesn’t know about this and so he’s just following Amy around. The heroes also get a ton of different setbacks throughout the film like when they are attacked at different points and have to dive out of the plane. It takes a long while to get anywhere when everyone is after them.

The film peaks near the beginning when the heroes make it to the airport and there is a big war going on with the planes being bombed. They meet their guide known as Monroe who ends up being the real MVP here. He has a lot of experience and helps them get across the worst areas. He also adds a lot of the humor to the film with his little jabs here and there. Without him I’m not even sure if the heroes would have made it off the airport. He was incredibly helpful at all times here.

Richard is probably the most pointless character of the film and you wonder why he is even here. He works with Peter but the guy is much more of a scaredy cat. He also doesn’t have any common sense like when he wants to make a break for it all of a sudden while in the truck trying to get out of occupied territory. He would have been shot as soon as he exited the truck so that would be a dumb move and he spends most of the film whining.

Herkermer is also useless for most of it but at least that is very intentional. The guy is a scam artist who is always getting in the way and causing trouble. He acts like he has a lot of money but instead what he has is a lot of ambition. He wants to get mega rich and that’s basically why he is here. The guy is certainly not ready to earn money through an honest living.

As for Peter, he’s not bad. At times he can be a little annoying as well but at least he is trying to help Amy get home for noble reasons. He’s probably the only character in the film without any kind of agenda. The rest are all after something while he’s just here for justice. That said, it wouldn’t hurt to have had a little ambition and I think keeping the diamond in the end would have been a really good idea. At least I would think so.

Karen is good under pressure and doesn’t scare easy. She may be a bit naive at times and underestimates corporate, but she still gets the job done in the end. She was a fun character to have around, and she put up with a lot of drama from Amy but stayed strong. Meanwhile Amy was a solid character here. The idea of a talking gorilla through the technology was a pretty good idea. In general, that kind of tech would be absolutely revolutionary.

Naturally the climax tends to hurt with the animal violence as the heroes have to deal with the gorillas. The film also got generally violent at random points. Not just the climax but the intro where a guy gets absolutely massacred and we even see an eye. It’s pretty brutal stuff and reminds you that this isn’t your average adventure film. Otherwise, honestly the first half of the film could have worked as a part comedy. It’s just the kind of film that you really can’t let your guard down around at all.

Not that it would help much at all since the film would run into the same animal violence issues but a better climax would have been to make this much more widespread. Have the army show up and add about 3X the amount of gorillas and make this a whole big war. It would have helped capture the threat a lot better that way and would have been an explosive way to end things. At the very least it would make sure you felt like you were getting your money’s worth on the thriller elements here.

Overall, Congo wasn’t really my cup of tea. Films about evil animals rarely are as you can’t really avoid the animal violence in those. You can probably try to work around this to an extent but it will usually be futile. It’s not like the characters were all that great either so that’s another thing to consider. If you liked Jurassic Park then this one will probably be too subdued for you and if you want an adventure film then you could do much better than this one. So all in all you have plenty of better avenues to pursue with the genres in order to have a more satisfying experience. Congo will need to remain hidden in your memories this time.

Overall 3/10

Big Fish Review

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It’s time for a film about how tall tales can eventually cause people to fall apart. Too many of those do wreck your chances of really getting to connect with people after all. When it’s overdone it can even seem like you’re just lying all of the time. That said, the stories tend to be the most interesting part of the film and you don’t want to go back to the real world for the drama parts. They just don’t work out quite as well as the fantastical stories.

The movie starts with showing us how William’s big celebratory wedding gets taken over by his father Edward who begins talking about the day William was born. The lead doesn’t like this story, not just because it isn’t true but because he wanted the day to really be his. He feels like his father has always been an overwhelming presence in his life and so he breaks off ties with him for several years. Well, now his father is dying and so it is time for William to try and reconnect the relationship. Edward is still committed to his stories to the very end though so William will have to learn to accept this or not.

I suppose my biggest problem with William is the fact that this just doesn’t feel like a big deal. Stories are how his father talks and so William just needs to accept that. He comes across as extremely ungrateful considering all that his father has done for him over the years. He seems like he was a really good person and so William should have embraced the stories. Even to the very end of the film he spends most of his time complaining and so he will quickly become your least favorite character in the movie. There just isn’t any saving him.

Fortunately his wife Josephine is a lot more understanding and has the compassion to hear Edward’s stories with a good amount of enthusiasm. This gives him a chance to tell all of the stories one last time. She knows that they all carry a lot of exaggertions but the guy is dying so why not let him have a little fun on the way out right? She’s realistic the whole time while William just can’t get himself to understand this. It’s not a tough concept either.

Edward’s wife Sandra doesn’t get a whole lot to do in this film but she was important through the stories as we see how hard Edward worked to get to her. He really had to go through a whole lot of adventures and put his best foot forward. While Edward was never one to face reality, I don’t see why he should need to. Real life can be rather boring at times so spicing up your memories is the way to go. The way the film handles this is to show us the actual stories which makes for a fun subplot.

I suppose if you are really looking forward to the real-life confrontations then this might hurt a bit but the stories are the best part like I said before. It’s fun to see Edward bravely stand up to every challenge and show why he is the most powerful fighter around. He gets a lot of great lines throughout and you can really feel his determination. He is definitely not the kind of guy to go down without a fight, that’s for sure. Now with the romance angle, it is a bit iffy to go after someone who is already engaged. It’s not at the same level as someone who is married of course but while this one has a happy ending, that would usually not be a good idea. He got off rather easy on this one.

As the film starts to come to a close, we learn a bit about how true some of the stories were. Most of the lies are fairly easy to see based on how supernatural they are but Edward did a good job of keeping the message straight in each situation. Additionally, he was a good family man to the end and never let himself get tempted into going down a dark path. Now that was a really good look for him since other characters would have definitely faltered at one point or another.

The film can run a bit long at times and probably could have done well with cutting out some moments. You could probably shorten the circus if you needed to as one example. It was a good way of showing Edward’s determination, but it was the most expendable. We also didn’t need the Werewolf plot in general which came out of nowhere. I mean a lot of the dreams/stories came out of nowhere but yeah that didn’t do anything to enhance the plot at all and if anything would only hurt since the film did reference the werewolf eating several animals. At the end of the day, it’s a solid title though and so I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good time. The main character is annoying but aside from him the rest of the characters are pretty good. It’s a solid title about remembering to treasure your connections while you can because everyone dies eventually. You may think you have a lot of time left to talk with someone and then they’re gone in the blink of an eye.

Overall, Big Fish is a film that does well in balancing the fictional and the real. If I would make a change here it would be to never really show any of the real world parts. Don’t actually let the lead find any evidence and just have him learn to trust that at least part of his father’s stories were true. Or have him decide that it just doesn’t matter in the end and he becomes a good sport either way. I would say that either option would end up working out just fine so you don’t have to do anything crazy. That would probably bump it up a star. Either way this isn’t really the kind of story that’s meant to have a lot of replay value but it works as an initial watch.

Overall 6/10

Blind Spot Review

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It’s time for a Hallmark movie but it’s definitely one of those more dramatic ones that doesn’t quite live up to the Hallmark standard. The characters end up being super annoying for the most part and keep on making bad decisions. There are some bad decisions that you can overlook but in other cases it is just too much. When your bad decisions start to affect others, then you have absolutely lost the plot.

The movie starts with Nell working on her cause to promote the dangers of Global Warming. She has been telling people about this for years and has been moving up the government rankings. Unfortunately, her son in law dies in a tragic car accident which also injures her pregnant daughter Phoebe. What’s even worse is that apparently he had been doing drugs the whole time and her daughter had even been in on it different times. Phoebe even has drugs right before giving birth so now that’s something her kid will have to deal with for a whole lifetime. This threatens not only Nell’s relationship with her daughter but also her relationship to her husband Simon. Will she be forced to put her career aside to mend this family?

I would say off the top the biggest thing that limits the film itself is that it’s hard to be too sympathetic to Phoebe here. Taking drugs is an awful thing to do at any age and the fact that she was doing this as early as 12 is not a good sign for her character What’s even worse is doing this while she was pregnant. Now you’re harming your own child and then Phoebe ditches her newborn baby to go on a drinking spree. She continues to double down on her mistakes throughout the movie and is always quick to blame Nell.

Phoebe isn’t even able to take responsibility for her own choices and has a victim mindset the entire time. It’s important to never blame other people for what has happened to you. It’s the easy way out and a total cop out. At the end of the day you have to take ownership for what has happened and make a conscientious decision to change yourself. If you don’t do that then you’re only going to continue down the rabbit hole because you can always say that it’s someone else’s fault.

Even by the very end of the film it doesn’t feel like Phoebe is out of the woods. She still had a drink and was close to breaking down. It’s good that she’s self aware about it but it would have been nice if the film could have had a more wholesome ending. Then we have Simon who has the same issues of blaming others Every time something happens with Phoebe, he is quick to throw some pot shots in at Nell. It felt like he would never waste an opportunity and then it was back to the blame game back and forth. I tended to agree with Nell here that at the end of the day he would agree. He seems to try and say that he only did because she pressured him into doing so but that’s a real weak excuse. He knows good and well what he says each time and so he has to either own it or not say anything.

Yeah I really didn’t like very many characters here. I guess I liked Nell’s agent who was good at damage control but that was about it. As for Nell, she was better than the other main characters but was portrayed as far too dense at times. Constantly interrupting in the meeting with Phoebe to try and give her own answers the whole time just wasn’t smart. Then wanting to have Phoebe go in front of the world to talk about being a drug addict? That’s incredibly tone deaf and it takes a very long time for Nell to get with the program.

She shouldn’t let herself be gaslit into being upset that she has worked so hard on her job but she should be self aware enough to see the damage it has caused and not try to prop it up the whole time. This is one of those drama films where it feels like the drama has absolutely been played up a whole lot for the adventure. As a result the film makes sure that none of the characters are likable by the end.

It also means that the film can move on rather slowly since the pacing dies early on. It just won’t end up being one of your favorite films at the end of the day and it is lacking in the fun factor. It’s why drama films need some other genre in there to spice things up like being part comedy or something. A pure drama film is going to usually end up being way too dramatic at the expense of everything else. That comes at an absolutely huge cost.

Overall, Blind Spot was not one of my favorite films. It had some interesting ideas I guess but it’s usually going to be hard to make a film about drug addiction be all that enjoyable. It is a serious vice and one that can be hard to conquer. It’s why interventions are important and often times you will need help to break it. The best thing to do is to never start with it in the first place. If you can stay away then that will mitigate the temptations and obviously you should also make sure not to have friends who are really into drugs. No matter how much you say they won’t get to you, it always remains as a possibility. Why even put yourself in that situation? Well, unless you enjoy seeing the blame game be put on constant display, this is a film I would recommend skipping. It’s definitely not on point compared to the average Hallmark film, I can say that with confidence.

Overall 3/10

Crimson Tide Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film about war time situations and how it can be tough to agree on a proper plan of action. The stakes have never been higher for any of the characters here and it makes for a really suspenseful watch. The story and characters are both really good and the film moves forward at a really good pace. I didn’t really have any major issues with it and was invested the whole way through.

The film starts out by explaining that a Russian extremist has taken ahold of some nuclear facilities and is threatening to fire them off if he is provoked. Captain Frank is told to assemble his troops and go underwater to set up counter measures. If ordered, he is to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike at the enemy. He picks Ron as his second in command and they head underwater. The big problem here is that communication gets knocked out early on after an order is given to attack based on certain conditions. When the conditions are met, Frank is ready to attack but Ron wants to find out more information. This threatens to tear the unity of the ship’s crew apart. What can they do about this?

The problem with a disagreement like this is that neither party is likely to back down. Too many lives hang in the balance and many will die if either one is wrong. Frank’s point is that they already have their orders and the fact that they cannot receive new ones does not mean that they abandon the old ones. Every second they wait is a second that something bad could be happening on the outside. It’s imperative that they take out Russia as soon as possible. On Ron’s side, if they attack now and the threat has already been averted, then they will be triggering a world war for no reason.

For me I would definitely side with Frank here. You have to go with the preemptive strike. It’s the whole reason you’re out here and the stakes are too high to stand back. So while he takes some rather drastic steps towards this end, they were completely justified. You just have to do this if you believe yourself to be correct. You’ll have to watch the film to see how it plays out but it’s a decision where hindsight can’t factor into it. So you have to choose a side and then just proceed with no regrets.

I imagine there will be a ton of hard feelings between the crew long after the events of the film have ended. There is quite a bit of violence here after all and that’s something you never really forget. No matter what the cause was, if you’re attacked or pushed around then you’re gonna remember it. The film develops a few of the side characters who each have to take a side by the end. One of them in particular is rather wishy washy with how he picks his sides but everyone else picks a side and sticks to it.

It also shows how easy it could be for a revolt to happen within a ship because there are so many people there with their own tasks that you can’t possibly keep track of them all. So if one guy is missing you probably won’t notice and by the time you notice 8 guys have left their posts, they’ll be in front of you with guns. You’re also completely stuck underwater so there is absolutely no escape. It has to be the scariest part of being in a submarine. I don’t even like being in a train that goes underwater for that same reason. If something happens then you’re basically doomed.

While I don’t tend to love war films, I do really like submarine stories and so that part of the balance won out. This is really a thinking man’s film where the thriller elements are in the strategy. Yes, there are some real fights here like with the enemy subs but this is still more about each character’s ideology. The top two certainly had very different ways of thinking which appears in the film right from the start. The contrast is set up really well for when the main disagreement happens.

The film does a good job of not making either one of the characters look insane either. You could probably make the case that it is leaning towards Ron as the main character here but it’s not too heavy handed. You are still able to make your decision on who you feel was right in this case. A weaker film would have definitely been throwing in not so subtle jabs the whole time.

Apparently a sequel is being worked on so it’ll be interesting to see how that one plays out. I imagine that the story will be a whole lot different for the next one. A sequel for a film like this is always going to either be hit or miss because the story doesn’t automatically lend itself to a sequel and if you don’t have too many returning characters, it will feel like they’re just borrowing the title for money. Well, we’ll come to that bridge when it happens but it will definitely be difficult to surpass this film.

Overall, Crimson Tide is a very good film. The writing is really solid and the situation feels very realistic. You never know how someone will react when a situation like this pops up and even close friends have to end up going at it. You can have as many plans and procedures as you want but when the situation actually happens, people aren’t necessarily going to listen to what is said in the book. They’re going to do what they think is right at the time and you just have to hope that it is close enough.

Overall 7/10

Ride Out for Revenge Review

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It’s time for another western! This one is about good ole fashioned revenge which can always be a tricky topic. How far do yo go in your revenge before you’re just perpetuating a never ending cycle of violence? It’s a tough call to be sure but I never tend to get upset at a character for getting their get back. In this case I’d actually say the film goes too far in making the main characters unlikable to the point where you’re absolutely rooting for the Indians. They didn’t start it so they should get to end this fight.

The movie starts with Little Wolf and his father heading into town to ask for some assistance. They are running low on supplies and are having a hard time surviving. Unfortunately Captain George is not all that broken up about that and instead tells them to get lost. In fact the government has ordered that the Indians all leave the land but they have refused to do so thus far. The Indians bring some gold in order to facilitate a deal but George allows his men to shoot the chief in the back while Little Wolf manages to get away. The bridge is burned now, the Indians will fight to the last man and get their revenge. All of this could have been avoided if George had listened to Tate, who warned against this. Unfortunately the village always makes fun of Tate for taking the side of the Indians. So now things are about to get dangerous.

So right away from the starting point here, I would totally be siding with the Indians to get their revenge. Their chief was just shot in the back. I can’t think of any country that would take their leader being assassinated without putting up a fight afterwards. It just wouldn’t make sense and that is why it’s annoying when Tate decides to go and stop them. Of course it’s not an easy decision and Tate admits as much but it’s one of the more annoying tropes that I see out there from time to time.

Person A wrongs Person B. Then when Person B goes back to fight person A, A’s friend C shows up to stop B. Yes two wrongs don’t make a right but it’s also real easy to say that when you’re on the winning side here. The Indians are fighting an uphill battle from start to finish as Little Wolf’s sister is also siding with the humans and not wanting to go down the road of violence. The notion that the Indians will eventually die in war is a valid one but you still have to try and get your revenge or else it will be a stain on your honor forever.

The main characters are also shown to be comically corrupt to really ensure you don’t feel bad for them either. After shooting the chief in the back, they all get drunk and laugh a bunch at the bar. They make fun of Tate and basically threaten him and even the kids have been indoctrinated to hate the Indians. The film’s message about hate as a disease is really clear and even by the end I would say there is no happy resolution here. That said, it still feels very unsatisfying for the Indians who don’t even come close to getting their revenge.

I’d argue that after something happens to a kid in the movie, Tate should have went straight for George and taken him out. After all he’s really to blame for what happened. The town deserves a lot of responsibility too for being sheep about the whole thing but it does start at the top. Then there is a lady who likes Tate and is super jealous of his Indian girlfriend. She is not one of the smarter characters because one way you will absolutely never get with someone is to insult his girlfriend. She never really acted in her best interests and wasn’t a subtle character at all. In fact I think she could have talked her way into going with Tate and the kid if she wasn’t so forward.

The trip is the one big plot hole of the film or I consider it to be one. Tate keeps on mentioning that the Indians will get their revenge that night and so that’s why he plans to leave with the kid right away. Then night falls…and Tate decided to leave in the morning. Really?? Why would you wait when you know that the Indians are coming? That part felt a little contrived and nonsensical. I also think the film would have been a lot better if Tate actually had left and the town had to face up to the repercussions of their actions. In this case, their complete destruction for how overconfidently they handled everything. The Indians should have returned fight away the next day to finish them off or even done the job at night. Once the weapons were taken, that was really it.

War has no victors, a lot of innocent people will get dragged into it either way. So you just let that play out with both groups destroying each other and that ends off the solemn message. The film had a bit of a somber tone throughout anyway so it would have worked just fine. The film did a lot f show don’t tell and handled the topic really effectively. While it may not have been quite as satisfying as I would have liked, it is a good all around film. Quite a few plot contrivances here and there but ultimately I didn’t have any big issues.

Overall, Ride Out for Revenge is a pretty good film. It was certainly leagues better than the last two so it was a good way to end off on the western ride. Tate also made for a good main character since we at least got one voice of reason. I could have used a few more of course but the whole one man against an army plot is a good one. The film’s message is also one of those that will always be timely since these feuds and wars are never ending. As long as humans are still walking the planet, there will always be fighting and violence.

Overall 7/10

Raw Edge Review

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I suppose a title like Raw Edge might already get your guard up but I can assure you that the film is even worse than you might think. The plot is annoying and the characters are all terrible. The movie really drags on and the whole time you’re just hoping that some of the villains will get bumped off instead of being spared for the 5th time and you know they will show up again before long.

The film centers around a town with a very rough custom. When a guy dies, his wife becomes an available product to be claimed by the first guy around. As a result you are incentivized to bump off a lady’s husband if you want her. This has been going on for a long while now and the head’s wife isn’t thrilled about this but you don’t worry about stuff for too long when you’re that powerful. One day she is attacked and so the town murders a guy who insulted her a while back and his wife is claimed. Now the brother of the victim has arrived and intends to murder her husband. This is trouble because everyone in town has always wanted her and now’s their chance.

I mean the story is so absurd right from the start. A town where women are literally property to be traded like this? Man, leaving this town seems like it would have been a slam dunk and at the very least you won’t want others to come up here. The victim actually recommended this as a place to live, can you believe it? Tex, the victim’s brother arrives and for starters he should definitely be upset at the fact that his brother would have even thought about him living here. Well, he intends to get revenge which will be hard to do since the head has a lot of followers. On the other hand, at least 3 are helping him out since they want a shot at the wife.

The whole film is using this kind of tension to get the story moving and it’s not the way you want to make a proper film. It’s dark in a distasteful way and of course it makes all of the characters look really bad. One lady tries escaping the village to go to the Indians, only to be hunted down and the Indian is murdered. Nobody tries to help her and instead they are fighting over her. It’s all about power here and everyone is only fighting for their self interests.

I’m guessing the reason why there are no real good guys here is because the ones with any kind of moral compass were probably stamped out years ago. So now you’re stuck with all of the corrupt folks. So of course that’s already bad enough but then even aside from that the writing is just really, really bad. Everyone is super dumb and naive at the same time. One guy in particular has been after the heroine for a while and got caught several times. In each instance someone gets the drop on him but lets him live. This happens over and over and over again until eventually he is left alone with her. Then he tricks her into leaving her horse to check on his and to ride with him? She really made things way too easy for the guy.

When Tex shows up and saves her again, he turns his back to the crazy guy with a gun??? She has to point out that he’s about to shoot for him to turn around. In a world like this where everyone is out for themselves, it should be common sense not to trust anybody. You have to take your opponent down for the count and keep your gun active all the way up until that point. If you lower your guard at all then it’d all over. Then you had the older guy who kept on doing some betrayals of his own and he somehow thought the other villain would forget? Near the end he turns his back to the other villain and talks about sharing again, as if he hadn’t just betrayed him 20 minutes ago….another dumb move.

The card player also took a whole lot of risks the whole time and is a really slow draw. It’s no wonder why he tries to use strategy to win the whole time because when it comes time for a gunfight he really doesn’t last very long at all. Meanwhile the head of the town isn’t the smartest guy either. After allowing a girl to be captured and forcibly remarried, he believes her when she says the Indiana just need to talk to him briefly? You don’t feel bad for him at all but the fact that he didn’t question this at all is crazy.

The film just had really bad writing all throughout the movie and the whole film needed to not have included the town’s weird rule from the start. Throw that out entirely and the whole film gets way better. Otherwise the fact that every guy there is just obsessing over all the women and waiting until they are in the market is wild. It’s just not a fun film and the whole thing just reeks of shock value. There were way better ways to handle this one. I guess it serves as a general reminder on why living back in the days of the wild west would have been brutal. Not to this crazy extent but it would still be bad regardless.

Overall, Raw Edge is a film that is trying to be rather brutal the whole time and it succeeds. It’s all just so corrupt with nobody to root for. It feels rather contrived and no amount of songs that the film would throw my way could change that. Even the song at the end is going for a rather upbeat/chipper tone and it just doesn’t work with the rest of the movie. I couldn’t buy into the romance at all but you could interpret the ending as a strategic move in order to get out of there and I couldn’t blame the heroine for that. You need to leave the place asap and can think of the long term plan after that.

Overall 2/10

Four Guns to the Border Review

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Oh no we’re back to the really bad westerns. I’d actually had a good run of it lately with solid westerns but this one falls into all of the old traps. You have the horse getting shot because he was injured, the terrible romance starting with a guy forcing himself onto a lady, terrible characters everywhere, yeesh. Yeah there was no real saving this movie and it only got worse the more you went into the film.

The film starts by introducing us to 4 crooks trying to rob a bank. Fortunately the safe was empty so they are foiled and have to run off. They figure they will bump off another bank next but along the way bump into an old man and his daughter. All 4 are immediately interested in the girl although they are all told to mind their business. Unfortunately she isn’t the smartest character either and tends to allow herself to be in situations with them alone. She even leaves her room in the dead of night during a storm to walk around which wasn’t smart. She isn’t afraid of anybody which is not a real smart tactic in the west. Can her father keep her safe?

Her character is just so bad though. Somehow the film tries to present the whole thing as romantic when the guy is really gruff with her and not respecting her boundaries at all. I’ve seen plenty of films with romances that have not aged well but this one might take the cake. It just really doesn’t make any sense and it’s as if she got Stockholm syndrome immediately. It just doesn’t make any sense and this causes her to run away from her father which ends up injuring her horse who has to be shot. She has no real sense of safety or security and just brings more and more trouble with her.

Obviously the 4 crooks are to blame here as well but they are villains. You’re not expecting much out of them in the first place. In particular there’s really one guy who ends up getting with her several times even though he tries to act like he’s above all that. The guy has no real standards or self respect, it’s no wonder why he has not been a very successful thief at the moment. He’s just going to keep on fumbling at the end.

A big problem with having villains as the lead figures in a film is that they tend to be unlikable and this one is no exception. Every time the characters are planning, you’re just hoping that they will fail. The problem is that we don’t even get to meet the cops until near the end and when they show up, the main guy isn’t the most level headed fighter. He lets himself be baited into a fight multiple times instead of just arresting the villain. When you are the sheriff you have to put the people first and that means just shutting down any villain who approaches. There is really no time for personal vendettas at that point. Then he was even losing in that fight which was unfortunate.

I would argue that none of the villains really learned their lesson either. The film definitely has a body count so at least a few of them got bumped off but then for the last one, he really only surrenders because he has to. I would still think of him as a villain the whole time and the girl made the wrong decision in wanting to be with him. This is taking the whole “liking the bad boy” thing to a crazy level. He even gives all the worst answers to her questions about if he’s been with someone before and she still doesn’t care. She just says she’ll love him more than the others.

Deciding to just sacrifice your happy life to be with a criminal is something I just couldn’t understand. So that’s already a whole lot against the film and as for the fights, well at least we got some. The Indians show up and they managed to take down the guy by the empty shop in the middle of nowhere. I’m always up for a good gunfight but it’s not like it’s anything particularly unique here. So the film needed to have other solid areas to really keep this above water and unfortunately that just never happened.

Maybe letting the heroine’s father go all out against the crooks would have helped the film to be more on the solid side. He should have finished off the first crook when he caught the guy with his daughter and from there he should have opened fire on the others. Even if he ended up losing or got shot back, it would have been a good moment to show that he wasn’t messing around. The guy had a pretty good reputation for being a solid shot after all so showing him take down a few of these punks would have been nice.

Maybe also exploiting how the team was always fighting. There were two members of the group who were always going at it after all. Trick them into fighting and then you beat the other two. It wouldn’t take much to start a fight between them from what we saw so that would have really been a fun way to go. Ah well, too bad that wasn’t the case here, would have been a more interesting movie.

Overall, I would not recommend this one. It needed to have had a much bigger emphasis on the sheriff for starters. At least that would have left things off on a good note. Without that, well the film was not really going anywhere. The town had some interesting characters like one lady who always carried a gun with her. The film should have been building up to the 4 crooks trying to raid this town and then getting blown away. That would have been an infinitely better story. Also the heroine really should have been portrayed to be at least a little more intelligent and not just acting completely oblivious to everything the whole time. They literally offer her candy like a baby and she accepts. Not her best moment. This is one of the weaker westerns that I’ve seen and I highly recommend staying far away from it.

Overall 3/10

The Boys From Brazil Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for one of those really grim movies. The kind of title where you know it’s not going to have a super shiny ending and the path to getting there will be very difficult. Definitely not for the faint of heart. That being said, either way this is not a film I would be likely to recommend. The plot certainly takes a turn by the end but it’s not the kind of turn that was going to save the movie.

The movie starts off with a kid named Barry finding out about a big Nazi scheme. This is big enough where all of their most important players are meeting up and so he quickly contacts the legendary Nazi hunter Ezra. Unfortunately Ezra doesn’t really believe him and is in a bad mood which leads to the villains murdering Barry before he can say more. When Barry’s friend approaches Ezra, the hunter realizes that he can no longer ignore what is going on. So he begins to snoop around and ask questions but what he doesn’t realize is that this is a plot that has been in the works for many years. It will be difficult to stop the plan and even more difficult to stop it without big collateral damage.

I do have to say that Ezra being so slow to help was a little off putting. The whole point here is that he is a big Nazi hunter and yet when the opportunity presents itself he isn’t ready for it? I would have liked for him to have been a little more on the ball. Now it’s fair to say that Barry was going to die either way but it would have still been nice if he would have at least had the knowledge that someone would continue on with his work. Barry did well to find out so much with his little amount of time and connections.

Meanwhile the main villain Josef is a hard man to bring down. This guy has a lot of connections and of course he is very eager to start everything off. The guy has been waiting for this moment for many years and absolutely does not hesitate. I wouldn’t expect him to either although at least one of his minions isn’t quite as gung-ho about the whole thing. At the end of the day it’s not much of a distinction though as he still goes through with the orders. Whether you follow them reluctantly or eagerly, the end result is what counts.

The villains are Nazis after all and the film doesn’t hesitate to remind you just how cruel they are. They run live experiments on both humans and animals, they viciously murder their opponents, etc. If you were expecting some kind of mercy or a softer look then think again. It’s definitely good that they don’t downplay the atrocities the Nazis committed but at the same time it does limit the movie.

It makes the experience more of a quiet somber one. At the very least it can be depressing to see the fact that so many of them were still alive and kicking there. There are enough for them to be in different companies, at parties, etc. Yeah you were definitely hoping they would all be bumped off. Meanwhile Ezra needed to step up his game as a hunter and take more of them down. From the accolades we know that he has taken a whole lot of them down but of course there are always more and that’s where things get tricky.

We do get to see some of Josef’s good detective skills at work though as he starts to interview people and put together dates in order to really close the noose around the villains. He pieces things together fairly quickly and also knows when to play hard ball like when he forced the lady to answer his final question. He was definitely getting that answer before he walked out of the facility.

So while I do have big issues with how he acted at first, at least later on he got with the program. He’s a lot older at this point so you can expect there to be no real fight scenes but he still gets to have his deductive moments. His sister Esther is also very useful in the film as she helps in an administrative role. As always it is good to have someone on your side. When you’re alone then the danger really starts to creep up on you.

Now the title of the film may have you confused but by the end it makes sense. That’s where the film hits you with the tough moral question of what you can do here. It sort of depends how hard you buy into the sci-fi angle here. In general I do find it hard to choose any option of punishing someone before the crime was actually committed. While the characters did already seem insane, it can still be a dangerous leap to try and neutralize everyone. I suppose I would probably lean on the main character’s decision here if pushed into a corner but ideally they should all be monitored. It’s just a tough call because that wasn’t going to happen. They would either all be slaughtered or you could prevent them from being found. When you are limited to those two choices then leaving them alive is probably best although things might get dicey for the world.

The film can get surprisingly violent at times. I would say the worst of it is still off screen but there is a body count to be sure. At the end of the day it’s a film that doesn’t really hold back at all and I would say there’s a number of scenes you could cut out. Ultimately though the biggest weakness really comes down to the fact that it feels like an investigation without much of an ending. When you really think about it, not much has changed since the beginning. At least some characters know what is going on now but the program was not fully stopped. Now it’s just a matter of nature vs nurture.

Overall, The Boys from Brazil definitely has an odd tone about it. It’s a thriller but not in an action sense and more in a rather strange kind of view. You see the dark underbelly of what’s going on without any true way for the heroes to come out on top. I can’t say there is a lot of fun to be had here, nor is there a whole lot of replay value. In the end this means you should probably check out another film instead, you can do better than this one.

Overall 3/10

Imaginary Crimes Review

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It’s time for a dramatic film that incorporates a lot of second hand cringing. You can really sympathize with the tough spots that the main heroine was put into here. It’s definitely a tough situation for the kids and a general reminder that it’s okay to have dreams but you have to be responsible about them. If not, then you are really just setting yourself up for defeat. It definitely will not end well and the longer you put off your reality check, the bigger the consequences will be.

The film starts off by introducing us to Ray who has had to raise his two daughters Sonya and Greta by himself after his wife passed. Ray has always been a bit of a dreamer. He doesn’t want to work a standard 9-5 job, he acts as if this is beneath him. No, he’s going to get super rich and is quick to mention this at all times. None of his plans have worked out yet but he knows that they will at some point. He’s been conning people for years and lies as he breathes. Now he has managed to get Sonya into school but the lies are starting to catch up to him. Is he about to ruin everything?

Right off the bat I can say that you don’t feel too much sympathy for Ray. It’s one thing to be ambitious and want to do things your own way but the instant you start becoming a chronic liar about it, then you are knowingly doing something bad. By around the halfway point you start to doubt that Ray is as insane as he appears and instead it really seems like he just enjoys spinning his stories. He had to know where it was going and yet he kept on doubling down over and over. If anything he is incredibly lucky that he didn’t try that in a worse neighborhood or he would have been thoroughly beaten up a long time ago. You just can’t get away with these kinds of actions for very long. He had plenty of outs and at the very least could have kept the situation from snowballing out of control. Unfortunately he did not make that choice.

Meanwhile for Sonya, this often meant that she had to take care of her little sister Greta which limited the amount of free time she had on her own. She wasn’t able to be a kid in the ways that she should have been allowed to. Then Sonya is also old enough to know that her father is lying about everything which is super awkward for her. It’s not like she can do much to stop him and in the meantime has to just keep her head low and try to make the best of the day. Even when she does her best to try and cut Ray off or prevent him from making the lie worse, he just ignores her.

She definitely has the wort situation out of the group by far as a result. Fortunately she does her best and I give her full credit for taking care of her sister since that wasn’t always easy here. In the end she also makes the right decision to look to her future instead of taking the easy way out and making for a new location with Ray. You have to face up to things eventually after all and the sooner she gets it over with the better. She also met a nice teacher at the school who really helped her out by polishing up her writing abilities and looking out for her. Even having just one ally helps out a lot and in general the town seemed like a very nice one. That’s why it was a real shame that Ray was cheating them out of money.

One last fault for Ray is that he also appears as a very unreasonable guy. We get a flashback where his wife won some nice plates from a local raffle and he immediately starts insulting them. He seemed to take it very personally that she got the plates from somewhere else instead of him being able to provide for her. It was just in such a childish way that it makes him look so petty. She had always been patient enough to put up with his endless boasts and promises that would never come to fruition. The least he could do is be happy for her when she finally won something.

Additionally, during the films we see Sonya’s stories that she would submit to the school which were loosely based on her life. They were intentionally exaggerated so you don’t know exactly how much was true or not but in those stories we see Ray quickly rebounding with other women and generally looking like a rather terrible guy. So even if only a little bit of that was true, it just makes him look even worse. The problems that he created were all of his undoing and that is why it’s hard to feel bad for him. I just felt bad for the kids who had to deal with the consequences of his actions.

Overall, Imaginary Crimes does a good job of getting across that feeling of how hopeless things can be when you’re a kid and you know that something is not right. The main problem is that no matter how much you know, there’s not much a kid can do. I can’t really say that they could have done anything differently here. That’s why it all comes down to the father’s failure here because he needed to provide for his family. That’s the top priority and it has to come before pride and his visions of striking it rich. By this point he had to know that wasn’t going to happen and to continue trying for it would just be plain irresponsible. It was not a good idea. I’m not a big fan of the film but it’s not a bad title either. If this sounds interesting then you should check it out.

Overall 5/10